Nation & World

A new study says almost 1 in 5 American 4-year-olds is obese, and the rate is alarmingly higher among American Indian children, with nearly a third of them obese.

Researchers were surprised to see differences by race at so early an age.

Overall, more than half a million 4-year-olds are obese, the study suggests. Obesity is more common in Hispanic and black youngsters, too, but the disparity is most startling in American Indians, whose rate is almost double that of whites.

The lead author said that rate is worrisome among children so young, even in a population at higher risk for obesity because of other health problems and economic disadvantages.

"The magnitude of these differences was larger than we expected, and it is surprising to see differences by racial groups present so early in childhood," said Sarah Anderson, an Ohio State University public health researcher. She conducted the research with Temple University's Dr. Robert Whitaker.

Dr. Glenn Flores, a pediatrics and public health professor at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, said the research helps studies documenting racial and ethnic disparities in children's weight.

The study, part of research conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, appears in Monday's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

IRAQ

Deadly bombs raise questions for leaders

A crowd inspects a car in the aftermath of a bombing Monday in a Baghdad neighborhood. Six car bombs exploded in Shiite areas of the Iraqi capital, killing at least 36 people and wounding more than 90 others. The attacks, which occurred over six hours, raised concern that time is running out for the country's Shiite-led government to promote reconciliation among sects and ethnic groups.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Arctic ice thin, study says

Researchers say that as spring begins, more than 90 percent of the sea ice in the Arctic is only 1 or 2 years old. That makes it thinner and more vulnerable than at anytime in the past three decades, according to researchers with NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado.

"We're not set up well for summertime," ice data center scientist Walt Meier said Monday. "We're in a very precarious situation."

Young sea ice in the Arctic often melts in the spring and summer. If it survives for two years, then it becomes the type of thick sea ice that is key. But the past two years were warm, and there's more young, thin ice at the top of the world.

Zuma, president of the ruling African National Congress, is almost certain to become president after April 22 parliamentary elections, given the party's political dominance.

He was initially charged with corruption in 2005 over alleged bribes relating to a multibillion-dollar arms deal. The charges have been dropped and reimposed several times.

Mokotedi Mpshe, head of the National Prosecuting Authority, said Monday he was forced to drop the latest charges because of an "intolerable abuse" by Leonard McCarthy, the former head of the Scorpions anti-corruption agency. McCarthy is now vice president of integrity at the World Bank in Washington.

FRANCE

Face and hand transplant

PARIS - Dozens of doctors working in teams over 30 hours performed the world's first simultaneous partial-face and double-hand transplant during the weekend, Paris' Public Hospital authority said Monday.

The authority described the recipient as a 30-year-old burn victim. The man, whose name was not released, was injured in a 2004 accident.

The authority's statement said the operation, performed over Saturday and Sunday at the Henri Mondor hospital in the Paris suburb of Creteil, was the world's sixth partial-face transplant but the first to include hands as well.

AUSTRALIA

Schindler copy discovered

SYDNEY - Australian researchers sifting papers belonging to Thomas Keneally, the author of "Schindler's List" discovered a yellowing roll of paper with the names of 801 men saved from the Holocaust by the German industrialist - the very copy Keneally used to bring the story to attention, a curator said Monday.

The 13-page document is a copy of one of Oskar Schindler's famed compilations of names that eventually included 1,100 men and women he saved by employing them in his factories in World War II Germany.

"It's the list Tom used when writing 'Schindler's Ark' and that really brought Schindler's actions to the attention of the world," said State Library of New South Wales co-curator Olwen Pryke.

"It is a copy of a copy, but it's a moving document, regardless," said Pryke, who discovered the pages late last year.